Tangaroasaurus

Tangaroasaurus is an extinct genus of squalodontid whale from the Miocene of New Zealand. It contains a single species, Tangaroasaurus kakanuiensis. Similar to Basilosaurus and its close relative Squalodon, it was originally thought to be a species of marine reptile.[1][2] Parts of the Holotype are presumably lost. Its name comes from Tangaroa, the Maori god of the sea, while the suffix -saurus comes from the Latin word for reptile, the group that Tangaroasaurus was originally placed in.

Tangaroasaurus
Temporal range: Miocene 16.0–13.8 Ma
↓
A tooth from the type fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Squalodontidae
Genus: †Tangaroasaurus
Species:
†T. kakanuiensis
Binomial name
†Tangaroasaurus kakanuiensis
Benham 1935
Synonyms
  • Tangarasaurus
    Benham 1935

The type fossil was found in a grey clay deposit at All Day Bay and consists of a jaw bearing a few teeth, measuring 5 cm each. The original describer of the type specimen, William Blaxland Benham, described it as a reptile, either a dinosaur such as Megalosaurus or an late surviving ichthyosaur.[3] The genus was described as an odontocete cetacean in 1979 by R. E. Fordyce.[4]

The status of the genus as a cetacean remains under discussion.[5]

Tangaroasaurus jaw

Fossils known from the same geological formation, the All Day Bay formation and Gee Greensand Formation, include an unnamed species of Squalodelphinidae and a species of Prosqualodon.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Geology society of New Zealand Inc 2003 annual Conference". Scribd.
  2. "Tangaroasaurus Benham 1935 (toothed whale)". PBDB.
  3. "A Reptilian Jaw from Kakanui, South Island, New Zealand". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 65 (1): 1. 1936.
  4. Ewan Fordyce, R. (1979-12-01). "Records of two Paleogene turtles and notes on other Tertiary reptilian remains from New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 22 (6): 737–741. doi:10.1080/00288306.1979.10424180.
  5. "A new Ziphiidae (Cetacea) from the Early Miocene of Washington State (USA) and phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of odontocetes". Bull. Mus. Natn. Hist. Nut., Paris. 279-326. 1990.
  6. "All Day Bay (Miocene of New Zealand)". PBDB.
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